Maybe Melissa Stark was onto something, after all (Rodgers disputes Stark report about possible December return | The Football Beat).
New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers – he of the torn Achilles tendon on the fourth play of his season (and we are absolutely not making fun; we’re telling the seriousness of the situation, we love Rodgers here at TFB) – told Pat McAfee on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday that he is jogging just three months after surgery.
Rodgers will be 40 on his birthday on Dec. 2. He told McAfee he would love to be “trending towards practicing” by that day. December 2 is a Saturday, and the Jets have five regular season games remaining after that: a home game against Houston (Dec. 10), at Miami (Dec. 17), a home game against Washington on Christmas Eve (Dec. 24), at Cleveland (Dec. 24, a Thursday night game), and a road game at New England to finish the regular season (Jan. 7).
As ESPN writer Rich Cimini says here in his story (Jets QB Aaron Rodgers jogging, eyes practice return in 2 weeks), Rodgers has said since the injury that he would only come back this season if the Jets were in playoff contention. Right now, the Jets are 4-6 with seven games left. They host the Miami Dolphins at 2 p.m. Central Time on Friday. Winnable, but not Little Sisters of the Poor, to say the least.
After that, it’s a home game against the Atlanta Falcons next Sunday, Dec. 3.
Rodgers’ surgery was 10 weeks ago, and he’s jogging on a treadmill. Rodgers appears on McAfee’s show each week via video from the Los Angeles area, where he lives and rehabs. Cimini said in his story that Rodgers sent the Jets a video of himself jogging on the treadmill.
“Yeah, I like to keep in touch with the guys and let them know what my progress is,” Rodgers said, on McAfee’s show. “I just sent a couple of the boys a video of me on the treadmill. They’re interested in my rehab and where I’m at.”
The Jets just benched starter Zach Wilson in favor of Tim Boyle after the team lost a recent road game at Las Vegas. Rodgers’ thoughts on the benching, courtesy of Cimini’s story: “”We need a spark and, obviously, this was the decision that was made,” he said. “I feel for Zach. I love Zach. Zach’s such a great kid and I do think he still has a bright future in the league. This has been a tough go for all of us. A lot of times in these situations, there are certain guys that are the scapegoat. I think there’s enough blame to go around at a number of different positions. If you have 10 guys doing right on a play, and one guy not, it’s hard to be efficient.”
Check out Cimini’s full story at the link above.
